Wearable User Interface

16Sep

Based on the augmented reality, Wearable User Interface refers to the wearable computing providing the miniature and purpose specific electronic devices to be carried out with, under or top of the clothing. Multitasking and consistency are the two crucial aspects of these devices that offers parallel execution of multiple tasks without interrupting the core functionality. Before wearable computing, augmented reality is just prototyped and simulated but with the advent of wearable user interfaces miniature sensory and computational devices are practically built (e.g Witt, H. (2007), Nicolai, T., Sindt, T., Witt, H., Reimerdes, J. (2006) and Clark, A.F., Newman, N., Isaakidis, A., Pagonis, J. (2003)).

Marianne (2012) elaborated some of the wearable user interface based sensors, monitors and devices in healthcare, which are IntelliVue MX40, BlueLibris, BioHarness BT, BodyMedia’s patch, Zoll LifeVest – defibrillator monitors, B1 wrist band and Nike Fuel Band. Functional details of these medical wearables in terms of their general collaboration among each other and communication with the doctor based station are as follows:

IntelliVue MX40 is the smart version of integrated medical gears, pumps and monitors, by putting a compact Patient Monitor that provides with the functionality of monitoring patients during transport and ambulatory patients. BlueLibris is a gateway technology assisting the patients to upload the biometric measurements so that to receive the reminders accordingly. BioHarness BT can monitor the measures related to blood oxygen, ECG and blood pressure. BodyMedia’s patch is used as an evaluation tool that aims at measuring the weight and monitoring the metrics like sleep patterns, activity levels, steps taken and calories burned. Zoll LifeVest monitors the heart patients by using wearable defibrillator monitors and to detect the sudden cardiac arrest related risks. An automated shock is delivered to restore normal heart beat if any heart threat is detected. A multi-sensor band called B1 wristband links the personal details of the bearer to the Web based Dashboard that helps in engaging with other users, sharing data and viewing the bearer’s performance. Four metrics are displayed and captured by Nike FuelBand. Steps, Calories and time are the first three basic metrics and the fourth metric is NikeFuel, introduced by Nike for measuring the physical activity of the user.

Wearable miniature electronic devices require a management information system that include intra- and inter- data management to monitor and control the related medical measurements in order to apply proactive health measures. Relating to different component based monitoring and evaluation of the wearable user interfaces, MIS requires alarms for abnormal behavior detection and to depict the risk measure of the specific body metric like blood pressure and ECG, while keeping in comparison the medical history of the bearer. When designed efficiently, wearable devices offers promising monitoring and control of body metrics.

MIS for wearable computing is complemented by the sciences of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Usability Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Neural Networks. Device and Graphical User Interface (GUI) are the two major components of the wearable computing. Device should be designed keeping in consideration the usage for a layman with no prior training and technical knowledge of the computational sciences. GUI is to kept handy for the doctor and other related management staff in terms of quick access to components for more often use. Access Management System (AMS) of the MIS should be defined in a way that the privileged access of patient’s disease and health state is accessed only by the concerned authorities in order to retain the confidence of the bearer on the device.